Vinya Ariyaratne, M.D., is president of the Sri Lankan Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya, an NGO founded by his father in 1958 and inspired by Buddhist principles. He was also founding chairman of Deshodaya Development Finance Company (DDCC), Sarvodaya’s microfinance arm. Dr. Ariyaratne has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and Brandeis University, and a Visiting Fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He holds a doctorate in medicine from De La Salle University in the Philippines, a doctorate in community medicine from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine of the University of Colombo, and a master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University.